Zygote

The production line continues as Oats Studios releases their next short film, Zygote.

With no time for build up or much exposition you are left to wonder what the hell is happening, why are the alarms blaring and who are these two people so obviously trying to hide/escape.

It turns out that we are situated in the Arctic at a mining colony. Some kind of disaster has occurred and no seemingly everyone else is dead bar Quinn, who by now has no eyes, and Barkley (played by Dakota Fanning) who makes clear that she is of a lower class than Quinn, whose purpose is to serve those of higher class.

The confusion and fear is very evident in these two, particularly Barkley who is not only trying to save them both but is struggling to come to terms with putting herself on a level with Quinn, especially when he is telling her to fend for herself. When we do finally get to see what is causing all of this chaos it is a definite “wow” moment. The creature design is amazing and, once again, the special effects are superb. The tension caused by the hunt is really well done, building to a make-or-break moment near the end which is breath-holding stuff.

For me it isn’t quite up to the standard of the first two episodes, story wise. The effects again were excellent as was tension at times but mostly, for me, the scope was wrong. It felt a lot smaller in scale than the previous two films and went by far too fast. There is no telling what the danger was really and how far this could go. Much like The Thing, that is an obvious influence, the genesis is not revealed fully leaving you guessing about what this creature is capable of and whether it is a wider threat.